I wasn't sure where to post this, so put it here, hope it's not an inappropriate forum.

I wanted to poll the user base of role playing game enthusiasts here about what seems to me to be a common occurrence. You're playing in a game and you notice a fellow player make a mistake that happens to be in their favor. Maybe they added attack bonuses wrong, maybe it's a point buy system and they have higher stats than they should have been able to, whatever. Regardless of the scenario, the player goofs, there's no reason to believe she did it intentionally, but it is good for player and the GM doesn't notice.

As a fellow player (not the GM), what do you do?

Depends.

If I know the GM from other sources, I might inform them directly that <whoever> seems to have added their stats/bonuses/whatever wrong.

If I don't know anyone from a hole in the wall, I'm more likely to go into the OOC chat (I've never found a game that didn't have one) and say something to the effect of 'Yo, <whoever>, I think you did your math wrong there.' What I won't do is PM that player privately, because if the GM isn't reading PMs (and a lot of them only give the most cursory peek to be sure their players aren't breaking the rules, if that), then it isn't brought to anyone's attention.

Rarely, I will do this if the goof isn't in the player's favor, but I have a general rule of letting people shoot themselves in the foot if they want to (unless it's someone new to a system).

I would point it out.  If it was an honest mistake, then they probably meant to play by the rules and would be grateful that you showed them what they did wrong.  If it was intentional, then they are a dirty cheater and don't deserve the unfair advantage that they're trying to get.

Unfortunately my response is coloured from being a GM...

As a Player I message the GM and politely point out that there might be an error.  It is possible that the Character in question has abilities, points, or benes that I as a different Player am not aware of.

But... as a GM I really prefer to get notifications of this sort of thing before it becomes habitual, in case the 'mistake' is a mistake or is not as innocent as it appears.
This message was last edited by the user at 06:02, Fri 27 Sept 2019.

As a  Player..I may ask the GM , in a PM  'why'..just to make sure, sometime s GMs  have things going on in the back round

 as a GM, with my games being  more  geared to RP..I will  get some  PMs  from a player " how  did this  character  do this, when mine can only do this "

  there are tons of reasons. most, if not all are geared to  how the charcter  was built, what the   backround is and   stuff the   player in questioned, has  worked on through RP...

 if you are in a game that is  numbers based  and Dice is law? Then, I suppose you should    point it out to the GM in a PM, and  allow the GM to handle it one way or the other.

As a player who primarily plays in freeform games, I can't say I know much about how to deal with situations that are as specific as this. But I can say that it makes the most sense in any regard that if there is an issue in the game you're playing in that you notice and that might have gone unnoticed by others, that you take it up with your GM no matter the issue whether it's big or small. We're all human at the end of the day and we all make mistakes, purposeful or not. As the GM, it's their duty to take care of those sorts of issues, and involving yourself with the player as a player is crossing a line that is really none of your concern.

I'd say bring it up with your GM and just let them know that there might have been a hiccup here and here with this person and let them decide what to do with that information, knowing you did your part as a player.

I think the answer depends on:  Do you think it's truly an honest mistake, or is this player trying to pull a cheat on the sly and hope nobody notices?

Obviously that's going to be hard to assess in an RPoL format.  But if something about it doesn't smell right, if you suspect it's a cheat, then own that suspicion and say something to the GM as politely as you can.

If you suspect it's an honest error, I guess I could go either way about whether to say something?  But I do feel strongly that if you decide -not- to say something, then for the sake of preserving your mental health, give the player the benefit of the doubt and assume it's an honest error and not worth making a fuss over.  Don't assume it's a cheat and just let the idea fester in your head and make you resentful of someone you're supposed to be having fun with, you'd be doing a disservice to both yourself and the game.

hello

To be honest, as a player I would assume there was some part of the math I was unaware of, and I would say nothing. That is, if I noticed. Usually, I find it more efficacious to PM the GM about intentionally failing when it might be dramatically appropriate, or funny. I like funny. Funny is what allows me to sleep through the blood-soaked nightmares and face the new day with enough energy to do it again.

Honestly, as a player I don't pay any attention to the other players stats, I figure that is the gms job.  Maybe they have an arrragnement with the gm, maybe there is something special that I don't know about.  At the end of the day the only character that matters to me is mine though.

The times I've done this had nothing to do with the stats of another Character, but rather I was reading old threads of a game I joined I noticed that a Character was not following the rules in a handful of instances, and they were consistently not following those rules over, and over, and over again in old threads.  So asked if there were house rules I was unaware of, say that weren't listed in the house rules page.

How am I, as a player, supposed to see another player's stats to know something's wrong with the math?  If I notice something is a little 'off' about what a character is doing, I may bring it up with the GM...but I'm generally in the same school of though as soulsight, or PCO.spvnky.

This really depends on the game, and whatever parameters the GM may have set for character creation. Sometimes it's fairly easy to extrapolate minimums and maximums for what other characters should have, based on what they roll. Sometimes (more often than I'd like, if I'm honest) players go into the OOC and talk about what their character has on their sheet. (Heck, I had a game once where one player put up their entire sheet in the OOC, just so everyone could see it - I've still not figured that one out...)

Point is, sometimes it's pretty simple to do. Obviously, if it isn't, you wouldn't notice something like the OP mentioned.

Not just CharGen, but the rules on how to post rolls and roll logs.  For instance as a GM I require the desired action and the relevant statistics to be included in the roll, so all of that shows up in the rill log, as well I require it be posted in the post.

Also, depending on the game, the rules require a requisite number of actions, or a specific method of handling, or specific dice be rolled.  This makes it pretty easy to spot (for some of us*) when the proper methods aren't being employed.


* I've GMed GURPS for 30 years, so I can pretty quickly recognize small errors that frequently crop up, even (sometimes especially) when I'm a Player.


Exactly.

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was a double post, at 14:56, Fri 27 Sept 2019.

I would likely kindly ask about it openly in OCC thread. Maybe it was simple mistake, those are prone to happen. Maybe I got it wrong and a clarification is in place. And if it is intentional it needs to be weed out.

I don't like making people feel called out.  Also, if the error was not a simple mistake I find it's best if it's left to the GM completely instead of getting every other Player involved (which tends to happen in public discussions).


Inversely (perhaps even hypocritically)... when it's the GM making rules 'errors' I call them out publicly.  But, likewise, that's my preference as a GM.  Call out another Player privately to me, but call me on rules flubs in public.

 indeed... never call anyone out in OOC... yhou talk  with teh  GM first in PMs..The GM should resolve the Issue.

 either by explaining  'why'

 talking to the player in question

 and then make  an OOC Post , if  necessary , to  'explain  how the action should be done"

 There are players  out there  who are  like  grade school kids " how come they can do that!"

 There are kids  who are  like  us Older  GAmers, "..ahhh, well, I'm sure there is a reason"

 Its  best to keep the   field level..Unless , of  course there is a Plot thing.. then you simply say " its  part of the game"

And then there are us fellow GMs who ping the GM saying "I suspect you didn't notice, but shields worn on the back do not give their defense bonuses and so every defense roll [Character] has made has been..."

::chuckles::  when it comes to that? Unless its  an Arena game, you have to go with the RP, and the GMs   ruling.